Who Opened the Window? Women's Activism in Islamist Parties

Abstract

At the onset of political liberalization in Jordan and Yemen in 1989 and 1990, respectively, the largest Islamist group in each country expressed strong views opposing women's full and equal political participation. Yet just a decade later Jordan's Jabhat alCAmal al-Islami (Islamic Action Front, or IAF) and Yemen's Tajammac al-Yamani li-i Islah (Yemeni Reform Group, or Islah) not only have women in their highest decisionmaking bodies but have more than any other party in either country. Why has women's participation in these two highly conservative parties increased so dramatically over a relatively short period of time? One leading explanation points to the triumph of over hardliners. As party leaders learn that bargaining and cooperation are necessary to advance political agendas within a multiparty political field, pragmatists are gradually able to advance their agendas as hardliners lose support. Women within these parties see gains either because party moderates hold more progressive views toward women or because they recognize the utility of promoting women's participation to gain votes and/or appease domestic and international critics. These explanations misidentify the reasons for the increased participation of women within these two parties. While shifts in party ideology and/or strategy may indeed be at play, gains made by Islamist women have come as they have taken advantage of structural openings created by shifting divisions within each party. Women have made significant advances when they recognized and seized windows of opportunity for increased participation, as when moderates and hardliners within their parties were preoccupied with intraparty disputes and external challenges. While the evidence from Jordan and Yemen does not disprove the hypothesis that inclusion leads to moderation, the trope of a single moderate-radical divide in the Islamic Action Front and the Islah party obscures the complexity of intraparty conflicts. Careful attention to the actual (and often multiple) mechanisms behind the adoption of more moderate practices within conservative parties will enrich an understanding of whether and how the inclusion of conservative religious groups in multiparty politics produces a moderating effect on their policies and practices. Research conducted in Jordan and Yemen between 1995 and 1998 illuminates why women's participation in Islamist political parties has increased in Jordan and Yemen.